High photodetectivity of low-voltage flexible photodetectors assembled with hybrid aligned nanowire arrays

Abstract

One-dimensional (1-D) hybrid nanostructures with high opto-electronic performance, flexible features, and a rationally designed device assembly have an exponentially growing demand for their use in transparent and flexible photodetectors. To meet these requirements, a cost effective and facile processing route is mandatory for their fabrication and integration into the device assembly. Herein, we have successfully assembled photodetectors from high quality well-oriented uniaxially aligned hybrid ZnO–ZnGa₂O₄ nanofibers. Our prepared flexible devices demonstrate outstanding performance in terms of large responsivity (1.73 × 10² A W⁻¹), high photodetectivity (∼1.02 × 10¹² Jones), and external quantum efficiency (7.10 × 10⁴%) along with fast rise and recovery times of less than 400 and 500 ms, respectively. In addition, the prepared photodetectors have shown outstanding flexibility and stability with more than 70% retention in photosensitivity at a very small bending radius of 2 mm. The synthesized hybrid nanofibers have also shown more than 80% transparency in the visible range (400–700 nm). The assembled hybrid photodetectors indicate that ZnO–ZnGa₂O₄ nanofibers are highly valuable for optoelectronic devices. It is also worth emphasizing that our assembled flexible photodetectors based on hybrid nanofibers with high surface-to-volume ratio have promising applications in soft electronics and invisible optoelectronic devices.